We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mollyrose Wright. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mollyrose below.
Mollyrose, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
ADORB (Accent Declutter Organize Rearrange Beautify) started out as a creative outlet for me. I worked as a private investigator in the corporate insurance world for 18 years and I needed something more fulfilling. I have always enjoyed cleaning and organizing; it is therapeutic for me, so I came up with ADORB in 2020. However, I soon realized my passion lie somewhere completely different and unrelated. I have a green thumb and always enjoyed growing things, plants and flowers around my home. In November of 2021 we acquired a vacant, useless lot behind out house and so the wheels started turning. I decided to plant flowers on this lot and that is when my garden hobby took on a life of its own and 5th Street Flowers (@5thstflowers) was born. What started as four raised beds built by my ever so handy husband, Jason, has now turned into a 3,000 square foot field of flowers complete with a shed/greenhouse (also put together by my husband). In the off season when my own flowers aren’t growing, I create flower arrangements and host bouquet bars using wholesale-purchased flowers. My neighbor was the one who sparked my interest and creating flower arrangements in the first place. She asked me if I could make her a Thanksgiving table centerpiece and I loved every second of it. This is when I decided I don’t need to wait until my own flowers are growing to stay busy and profitable with flowers. My plans for this coming growing season will be to have people come to my field and pick their own. I also will be offering pre-made bouquets and I was asked to join the Conover Farmer’s Market this summer! I want people to drive down the road this summer and see nothing but a beautiful field of flowers as they pass by.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Up until now I was not very proficient on Instagram. I would just post a photo here and there and that was it. Since starting 5th Street Flowers, I quickly realized that social media was the way to market my business and not just by posting a photo with a caption. I had to learn how to do more on the Instagram platform. I Googled everything from how to make a reel, how to change the background color, how to use the “draw” feature, how to insert a GIF, how to select the right music, etc! I also asked friends who use Instagram how they did certain things and I spent hours playing around with it until I figured it out. The first reel I ever made took me over an hour to do and now they don’t take me nearly as long. I get new followers every day because of the reels and I don’t turn any of them down. I have gotten business from Instagram followers that I necessarily wouldn’t have expected but they knew someone who knew someone who needed flowers for something. It’s amazing to me how far social media can spread the word. I have followers in the UK, Australia and Japan right now. I am still expanding my ‘followers’ and ‘followings’ but from where I started to where I am now is much improved! I also have learned to be more interactive with my followers. I ask questions and compliment their posts in words not just “likes.” I have learned so much from the various flower friends in Instagram so it has been such a useful tool in that regard as well, not just for selling. I still have a lot to learn and I am sure I am not using social media to its full potential yet but as the days go by I learn more and more. I try not to bombard people every day with social media posts. I try to post a reel once or twice a week and I post stories two to three times a week. I have to say that the reels have gotten the most responses and followers. So to anyone who is in the same boat as me, reels is the way to go.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
As previously mentioned and what started this interview in the first place was my organizing business ADORB. Now that I have put ADORB on the back burner and focusing 100% on 5th Street Flowers I have had to learn how to take a deep breath and accept the fact that my house isn’t perfectly clean and organized as it once was. I still like a clean and organized space but being outside working in my field and nurturing seedlings has become more important and I have had to accept that I can’t do it all. I don’t always make the beds and laundry isn’t always done and the dinner is sometimes frozen. I have some guilt about it but I realized it’s only me who sees the mess, no one else notices or cares. I have had to learn to put blinders on and get things done one day at a time.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @5thstflowers
- Other: [email protected]